No Alberta beef here, says St. george butcher - Oct. 10, 2012

Barb Rayner/Courier
Terry Hurst, owner of Terry’s Beef N More in St. George, is pictured with a hind quarter of beef which he will make into ground beef. He is not affected by the recall of beef from the XL Foods plant in Alberta because he only sells New Brunswick grown meat.

Barb Rayner
St. George
Customers at Terry’s Beef N More can rest assured that none of the beef sold at the store originates from the XL Foods Inc plant in Brooks, Alberta.
Owner Terry Hurst said all the beef he sells comes from New Brunswick and, in fact, all their pork and lamb as well comes from grass-fed animals from a farm in the Sussex area.
Last month the Canadian Food Inspection Agency discovered E. coli on beef products originating from the Alberta plant resulting in the biggest meat recall in Canadian history.
“We don’t get anything from out west,” he said noting that sales of ground beef have probably increased a bit since the recall but the sale of steaks and other beef products have remained about the same.
“We don’t even accept anything that comes from the U.S. I won’t even let it come through the door because that is what we have built our business on – locally raised and naturally raised meat.
“We don’t buy anything that comes out of the U.S. simply because of their standards with growth hormones in the feeds down there. They grind it there and you don’t know how many animals have gone into that ground beef.”
Hurst, who makes his own ground beef at the store, was quick to point out that there is nothing wrong with Canadian beef – the problem was at the XL Foods plant.
“Out west they use a lot of feed lots and they have cattle walking around in manure that is two or three inches thick and, when they go to the slaughterhouse, they don’t wash them down. It is just lack of hygiene. They are not washing them to start with then when they kill them all that crap is falling off.”
Hurst, whose customers come from as far away as Robbinston, Me., Fredericton and Saint John, said a lot of people have been asking them about the beef, so he has erected signs to let them know that it is only local beef that is sold there.
The Australian-born Hurst has been butchering since 1974 and been in business in St. George now for eight-and-a-half years. He said he has always bought his meat from the same farm in the Sussex area.
For ground beef, he said he buys a hind quarter, breaks it down then grinds it fresh every day and all the equipment used is washed, sanitized and sterilized.
“Our reputation over the last couple of years has really paid off. If customers are not happy with their meat they can come back and we will either replace it or return their money - but it is very rare that we get anything back.”
The business’s fresh haddock comes from a fish plant in Nova Scotia while its free range turkeys come from the other side of Sussex.
Building up the business has been a lot of hard work, said Hurst, but he’s still in business after eight and a-half years.
While he said he cannot control what is contained in lunch meats or wieners, he makes his own sausages from scratch using fresh beef and pork and offers 50 different flavours.
Hurst said they don’t use any Styrofoam containers or plastic and the meat is wrapped in brown paper out of a desire to be environmentally friendly.